Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Poppa Trix has declared that January is Soup Month in the Trix household, and he's not kidding. So far this month, I've posted a roast chestnut and butternut squash veloute, Paris mushroom soup for French Fridays with Dorie, and now this - which, by the way, I've made twice. You don't even know about the pumpkin and yogurt soup I whipped up (but forgot to write down what went into it), or the fact that I made garlic cream soup (Knoblauchcremesuppe) for lunch the other day from an instant Knorr's soup packet from Austria.

It's a sickness, I'm telling you.
Luckily, it doesn't matter that I forgot to write down what I put in this soup: Not counting the salt, pepper, and olive oil, there are only six ingredients. And therein lies its beauty (if I do say so myself). But my favorite part of this meal are the adorable focaccine, or min-focaccia:

Though the way they puffed up, I'm thinking maybe I should call them boules. Yes? I think someone slipped steroids into my yeast packet:

But I'm not complaining. To make the focaccine, I followed my usual focaccia recipe, only this time I included 3 tablespoons of olive oil in the dough. Once the dough has risen, punch it down, knead it gently for a minute, and divide into four equal balls. Cover and let them rest for 10 minutes or so, and then shape into discs of about one inch thick. Lightly brush with olive oil and make small indentations all over with your thumb. Then for the fun part: toppings!

On the left, I used Gorgonzola with thyme; on the right, Emmenthaler with red onion. I also added a just a smidge of Maldon sea salt. Kind of like tomato soup with grilled cheese, only fancy.

For the soup, you'll need 3-4 Tbsp olive oil, 2 large shallots (chopped), 4-5 cloves of minced garlic, one 28-ounce can of whole San Marzano plum tomatoes (you must use San Marzanos ... I command you!), 1 cup of vegetable or chicken broth, a big sprig of rosemary, 1/4 cup of heavy cream, and salt and pepper. In a stockpot over medium heat, saute the shallots in the oil until tender. Add the garlic and stir. Add the tomatoes, along with their juice, and squish them with a fork, a potato masher, or your hands. Add the broth and rosemary sprig and bring to a gentle boil. Reduce to a simmer, and remove the rosemary after about five minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Simmer until the tomatoes "melt." With an immersion blender, blend until smooth. Add the cream and re-season with salt and pepper.

And that ... is that. What did I tell you? Simple. This is everything I want in a tomato soup: tangy, herb-y, and soul-warming.

Gosh, it's almost midnight here and I'm drooling looking at this. Wish I can have a bowl and a pice of your bread to enjoy first before going to bed. I'm sure I can sleep better. But now I think I can't sleep. I will think about it or maybe dream about it...haha

oh, I do like my bread, boules are one of my favorites, love the yeast flavor and these small loaves of focaccine are, well, I would give you anything for a 'arm-load' of these babies.... now the soup ain't too shabby either, and I agree on ingredients, like my Creole tomatoes when I can find them (the real ones)

Ok, that's weird...I just sat down after setting a batch of focaccia to rise...which is to go with the tomato soup I was planning to make tomorrow for lunch...I love your simple recipe (and the colour is fab!), but I am sans San Marzanos, so I have a feeling I'll be playing with the flavour a bit. Actually, that sounds like fun! Theresa

Funny you should say... i made a deep-dish pizza that became thick as a cake... I was lucky it was in a tall sided pan with tons of olive oil in the bottom... as it is the cheese rolled down to the sides and collected... it was great but very very bready! Maybe there was a batch of super-yeast that slipped by.

Great looking soup... my mother often made tomato soup when it was cold and snowy... this reminds me of something she would do... perfect for the 19" of snow outside!!!

A month of soup? Wonderful! Here in Phoenix we are enjoying our soup fix in 65+ weather. ;)I am totally loving your foccacia! Going to attempt to make some today for soup night!thx for sharing, buzzed ya!

A month of soup sounds glorious to me! I could probably eat soup everyday no problem, there's something just so soothing about a nice bowl of soup. But the best part is dunking a chunky piece of bread in the soup and letting it soak up all the juices, and that foccacine looks so soft and delicious!